Sora Naegino
Sora Naegino is the main protagonist of the anime Kaleido Star. Born and raised in Japan, Sora Naegino has made it her dream to become a true Kaleido Star. Her Japanese voice actress is Ryo Hirohashi while her English voice actress is Cynthia Martinez. Character Information * Gender: Female * Age: 16 * Home: Japan * Affiliation: Kaleido Stage, Freedom Lights (Partially during the second half of the first season) * Friends: Anna Heart, Mia Gulliem, Rosetta Passel, Layla Hamilton, May Wong, Marion Benigni, Johnathan, Yuri Killian, Leon Oswald * Rivals: May Wong and Layla Hamilton * Specialty: Trapeze and in line ice skating Starting Out Sora comes to America to join the Kaleido Stage, a theatre company located in Cape Mary, California. When Sora was very young, she and her parents came to Kaleido Stage to see their production of Alice In Wonderland, which helped give birth to Sora's dream of becoming a Kaleido Star. Shortly after, both of Sora's parents passed away and she was taken in by her aunt and uncle, who couldn't have children of their own, and took her in. During the rest of her life until she arrived in America, she trained her body well in hopes of becoming a member of Kaleido Stage. Her aunt and uncle are both hesitant to let her go but Sora manages to convince them to let her go. When she arrives, she becomes lost in the bustling city and stops for directions. There, she meets Kalos Eldos, who she believes is a pervert since he is examining her legs at the moment she asks for directions to the stage. Shortly after, her bag is stolen and she performs amazing feats through the streets to get her bag back. Shortly after, she is brought to the Police station claiming she ran away from home. But after an understanding, one of the officers, Jerry, drives Sora personally to Kaleido Stage wishing her the best of luck in her audition. However, she arrives too late and she asks for a chance to audition. But Sora's idol and Kaleido Stage's top star Layla Hamilton rudely rejects her saying that she should leave since she missed her audition. Outside, Sora feels defeated and plans to go back home. She meets Ken Robbins, one of the stage helpers who takes her on a tour back stage. She accidentally "saves" one of the performers from a balloon falling down on her. The performer is injured and cannot go on. But Kalos returns, to Sora's shock that he is the boss, and sends Sora on stage to replace the performer. On stage, Sora is completely embarrassed and cannot perform straight. But by luck, she manages to make it through and even receives help from Yuri Killian, the other top star and Layla's partner. After the performance, Layla criticizes her on her lousy performance and tells Sora to leave. But Kalos has other plans for Sora, which Ken makes clear when he tells Sora that Kalos has allowed her to join Kaleido Stage. When she moves into her new dorm room, she meets Fool, the Spirit of the Stage who only the chosen few can see. And thus begins Sora's long and hard road to becoming a Kaleido Star... Season One During her time at Kaleido Stage, Sora is first rejected by everyone because they call her way of being accepted into the company as "getting in good with the boss" while they had to work hard and she is doing poorly in the training sessions. But soon after daring to attempt Layla's Golden Phoenix maneuver, in which she would be forced to leave if she failed to do so, she makes new friends in Anna Heart and Mia Gulliem. She manages to almost perform the maneuver and earns Layla's approval to stay at Kaleido Stage. She soon starts to make more friends like Sarah Dupont, the dorm supervisor, Marion Benigni, a young girl whose mother was a trampoline performer, Johnathan, a baby seal and Rosetta Passel, a diabolo prodigy who had trouble making the audience enjoy her performances. Soon after the next two performances, she gets a chance to star in the production Arabian Nights alongside her idol Layla. While Layla is against the idea of performing with Sora instead of Yuri, Sora's hard work and determination soon show Layla that there is something inside of Sora that she doesn't have. During training for the production, Layla moves into Sora's dormatory so the two can learn to get in sync with each other. It proves beneficial as the two are doing better in practice. Before the opening day, Layla brings Sora out onto a ferry ship into the ocean during a lightning storm to have a "real fight" between the two of them for the performance. After a fierce battle between the two, they take refuge in the ship when the storm is too severe to return to shore. There, Sora asks Layla why she joined Kaleido Stage and it was the same as Sora, she saw Alice in Wonderland when she was a child and she trained hard to become a member after her mother passed away and her father buried himself in his work. During their performance, the audience's applause is like nothing Layla has heard in a long time and the two have kindled a friendship. But soon after, Kaleido Stage is losing performers to Yuri's new company and they put on a performance called Freedom to win back their performers and to keep the stage alive. However, Yuri takes over control of Kaleido Stage and cancels all of their future performances. He then kicks Sora and friends out of Kaleido Stage. Not to be defeated yet, Sora and her friends work together to make their own theatre company and invite their old friends to join, among which is Rosetta herself. Through many hardships and aide from Layla as "The Masked Star", Sora's group draws attention to their new group. But Yuri's affairs ruin their chances of anything more, including when they joined a competition with Layla and Yuri forcefully unmasks her during stage and in front of her father. But during this time, Sora learns how devoted a friend and partner Layla is to Sora and she soon gains the ability to see Fool. Fool reveals that Sora and Layla have been chosen by fate to perform The Legendary Great Maneuver, a maneuver that has caused the deaths of many performers including Yuri's father. With aide from Kalos and all of their friends, Sora and Layla's training in the Grand Canyon really pushes their limits as partners. But when Sora feels unable to do it, Layla's kind words help Sora stay on track. Layla's shoulder is injured during training and Sora tries to help her much to Layla's annoyance. When they return, Sora and Layla perform the maneuver and succeed in winning back Kaleido Stage from Yuri's control at the cost of Layla's injured shoulder worsening and ending her Kaleido Stage career. Layla then asks Sora to be her dream and become a true Kaleido Star as she will be the new best performer when she leaves. New Wings With Layla gone, Kaleido Stage is losing audience even with the addition of the incredible Leon Oswald, who performs for short whiles and then leaves during the performance. Sora meets May Wong, a new addition who declares herself Sora's rival and blames her for ending Layla's career. While Sora plans to throw the new performers, she runs into her old friend Rosetta, who wants to follow in Sora's footsteps and become a trapeze artist. Throughout the first half of the season, Sora battles with May in a fierce rivalry to become Leon's partner. While May wins the chance to be Leon's partner for Dracula, Sora is offered a chance to perform in a Broadway performance called Salome In Vegas, which has her old friend and idol Layla as the star. Even with May sneaking along, Sora performs with Layla and makes the performance a success. But Layla tells Sora that she seems to be losing the same feeling she had when they were partners. During a performance, Leon sprains May's arm and leaves her. Sora sees this as a chance to be Leon's partner for the upcoming Circus Festival, but May pulls through her injury and overshadows Sora again to be Leon's partner with her Demon Spiral. Sora finds an loophole in the admittance system to the Circus Festival, in which both of the winners from last year are given Phoenix Tickets to enter, she turns to Layla's partner Yuri. They train for The Angel's Maneuver, the best bet against May and Leon's Demon Spiral. But when it comes time to perform at the festival, Sora's heart is broken when she sees two other performers who she though were her friends attempting their maneuver and failing. When Yuri and Sora go on, she is seen crying on stage and she drops from the festival while May and Leon stroll away with the win. After which, Layla tells Sora that she is disappointed in Sora in the same rude voice she used on her at the start. Feeling defeated, Sora leaves Kaleido Stage and May takes her place as the best star. But while she is home in Japan with her family and friends, she realizes that her dream is to become the Kaleido Star - not by fighting other performers, but by creating her own stage with no competition where the audience and cast's hearts are one. When Sora starts down this path, Leon soon sees that Sora is his true partner (she reminds him so much of his younger sister Sophie). Through hard determination and pain, and even winning May's friendship, Sora and Leon become the leads in Swan Lake to perform the Angel's Maneuver. But Layla returns and challenges Sora for the lead. While Layla seems to match Sora, she soon realizes that Sora's skills have far surpassed her and she wins the challenge. And when it comes time for the performance, Sora's Angel Maneuver brings together everyone's hearts together and her stage is born, making her the new Kaleido Star. Performances Through the Series * Romeo and Juliet - Rabbit (Supporting Cast) * Cinderella - Clown (Supporting Cast) and then Fairy Godmother (Alongside Anna and Mia) * The Diabolo Battle - Competed With Rosetta, Rosetta wins * The Little Mermaid - Mermaid (Lead, partnered with Anna as the Prince) * Arabian Nights - Pirate Captain (Lead, partnered with Layla) * Theatrical Camp - Guest Appearance * Freedom - Lead, partnered with Layla * The Legendary Great Maneuver - Lead, partnered with Layla * Sayuki - Princess (Lead, partnered with Leon), Son Goku (replaces Leon at one point) * Dracula - Skating Vampire (Supporting Cast alongside Anna and Mia) * Salome In Vegas - Background Character (Supporting Cast alongside May) * Swan Lake - Odette (Lead, partnered with Leon) * The Princess Without A Smile - Prince (Lead, partnered with Rosetta) * Legend of Phoenix - Lead